For the Best
by Yukina Miyuki
Summary: Things began to fall apart for three best friends. Now in high school, they meet again as opponents on court. With a dark secret lurking in the background, humming sweet bitter lullaby of the past, they must forgive in order to move on. (One-Shot) (Spoilers!)


Yukina: Please enjoy reading. This is a friendship fanfiction of these wonderful boys. Please leave comments of your thoughts.

This work is also on a few other sites under the same pen name.

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It all started with a practice match. During their first unofficial match against Karasuno, Kunimi and Kindaichi witnessed the great and mighty 'King of the Court' apologise for a missed toss. To boot, the King actually sounded genuinely apologetic. They had stood and stared at him, not believing their eyes or ears at what was happening. Later that night, as they lay in their personal beds, they came to realise that the King was slowly changing.

The next time they saw the King was without his knowledge, or anyone for that matter. The two regulars of Aoba Johsai were going to the public library to work on their school project. As they was walking, they spotted the King walking on the opposite side walk, eyes half trained on the paper in his hands. They didn't know what he was doing so far away from his home but they didn't particularly care about that fact anyway. They both halted their steps, turning to watch him walk away. From here, they couldn't see that intimidating aura he always carried around, on court or not. They even went so far as to say he looked like a normal, untalented teenager if they didn't know better. At that moment, they both realised the King may no longer exist.

They next saw him during Karasuno's first match at the Inter-High Preliminaries. To their utter surprise, they could see him _enjoying_ the match, with pure happiness. It was not much of a stretch from their previous encounter of his changes, but it still a change. They sat and watch the game, subconsciously comparing the present King to the middle school King.

They officially met again on court at the final stage of the Inter-high Preliminaries. It was a wonderful game, with impossible saves and miracle points. During the game, they couldn't help but noticed the King actions around their setter. He was on edge, yet he pushed it aside and played for his team. They admire it, they realise. They had not seen that side of him since first year of middle school. They were glad afterward, and it had nothing to do with winning the game. They were glad, Kageyama had changed.

It seems the universe wanted them to meet everywhere they went. As far as they know, they saw him and Hinata racing down the same streets for a few days in a row. It was uncanny how closely they had missed one another. That area was where they normally hangout after school. After a week or so of trying to time their former teammate and his friend crazy frenzy, the first year duo disappeared for a while.

When they officially met again, it was beyond expected for it to be on the court in an official match. They observed him, noticing his more relax composure compare to last time. His eyes were calculating, and his aura was…warmer. Suddenly, they had an epiphany, they had not feel Kageyama's King aura since before their last match, not even once. As Karasuno was announced the winner, happiness radiated from his aura. Not the normal 'of course we win' aura, a pure bliss aura that they had never seen or felt before.

For a few seconds, they saw a young cheerful boy shadowing the former King. The young child was sporting a bright smile, eyes shining like crystal as he gazed up at his older self. In that moment, an unnamed feeling in their entire being told them there were some buried secrets. Something happened that turned Kageyama into a tyrannical ruler he was in the latter half of middle school. They also became aware of how little they knew about their setter, their former setter. They looked at each other, eyes shining with curiosity as they agreed to try and find out what happened if they ever became friends again. It was an unlikely possibility, but it's a possibility nonetheless.

Their olive branch came later that day while they were wallowing for their bitter lost. They were sitting in a small restaurant, treating themselves to udon for their hard game. It was near midnight but they didn't have a game the next day to worry about. While in the middle of their steaming hot meal, their phones beeped simultaneously. They opened it to find a message from Kageyama. The thought that Kageyama actually kept their phone numbers never crossed their minds.

 _If you don't mind, would you like to meet up this coming weekend? You don't have to! Just if you want._

From the tone of the message, they could tell he was nervous when texting this message. They couldn't understand what he want out of this meet up, but they had a guessed that he may be trying to salvage what left of this friendship. They silently glanced at each other, communicating through their eyes like they always had. They mirrored each other and typed one word in replied.

 _OK._

The weekend came sooner than they expected. Between the text and now, Karasuno had miraculously won their match against the defending champion, Shiratorizawa. It was a close match, with three of the five sets being a furious deuce for both teams. They watch the tears, of sadness and happiness. They watch the thanks, the interviews and even shadowed them as they half limped half dragged their bodies to their bus, having gone beyond their limits with this monstrous set.

Now, they were sitting at a secluded table in a homey restaurant where the three of them normally went to after training. It was nostalgic, none of them had stepped in this place since their second year of middle school. The two childhood friends scrolled through their phone was they waited for Kageyama to show up. Being so absorbed into their phone, they both failed to notice the scrapping noise of the chairs opposite from them.

Kageyama silently sat, observing his two former friends from across the table. It had been a while since he had time to trail his eyes over their form, which was still lean and sculptured as always. Compare to middle school, Kunimi clearly grew taller, but still not older than him. As for Kindaichi, his height also grew but less noticeable. Sitting close to them after so long, he began to notice the warm aura they always carry. He had missed it, missed them as they were actually the first friends he'd made prior to high school.

His heart constricted. He couldn't believe what he's said to them last year. His brain reversed, travelling back and played all the horrible things he did like a broken movie. At the time, all that was on his mind was 'volleyball, volleyball, volleyball, volleyball', he hasn't realised how bad his attitude was. But now he does, and he deeply regret it, every single bit of it. His eyes grew watery before he bit his lips and forced it away.

It took another few minutes before Kunimi glanced up. As their eyes made contact, the shorter boy jolted in surprise. He blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes once before nudging Kindaichi. Though surprise, Kindaichi made less movements. Instead, he opted to scream in surprise at the new found organism sitting in front of him. At the loud noise, Kageyama unconsciously flinched.

"Uh..Hi," Kageyama said feebly. It still take them more than a few seconds to process that the former King had said it in a feeble voice.

"Hello," Kunimi replied first, Kindaichi followed closely behind. Awkward silent fell upon them.

"I'M SORRY!" Kageyama blurted out after a while, head bowed low. During the silent, he had quickly steel himself and blurted it out before he chicken out. "I'm so sorry for what I said and did to you during middle school. I wasn't aware but that's no excuse." As he talked, he kept his head down. Nerve danced around his body as he felt his stomach tighten. Another silence befell them but this time, Kageyama was too nervous to notice.

Before he knew what was happening, he was trapped between two pairs of arms. From the way he positioned, he could not see who was who, but he could feel them. On his left was Kunimi, his arm was wrapping around Kageyama's torso. His grip was tight, like he was trying to anchor the former King to this world. On the other hand, Kindaichi arms was wrapping around both of them, drawing them into him in a massive cuddle. Surprise was the biggest understatement for what Kageyama was feeling right now. He didn't know what's going on, or why they did it. To his credit, the other two didn't either.

When Kageyama blurted out his apology, both Kunimi and Kindaichi was speechless. Out of all the things, they didn't expect him to outright say sorry, maybe subtly but not outright. They would have understood if he apologise in an underhand manner but they did not ever envision him to bow his head to them for an apology. It's not that he was too proud, they all got pass that, it was that it takes many courage to do so in a straightforward way.

Suddenly, memories flashed through their minds. It was from their middle school time, the time before Kageyama turned into a King. There was laughter, many countless moment of laughter in whatever they did. There was excitement, hope and energy, seeming to always bubble them together. It was strange how only the good memories surfaced, but they was reminded that they made many good memories alongside the bad, they just locked it away somewhere deep inside.

In a flash, they found themselves with their arms around the bowing boy. Their bodies moved on its own, squeezing the life out of the poor boy. But Kageyama did not complain, in fact, he seem to relax in their hold, drawing energy from them like he once did. After a while, they let go. They sat back down and continued their day, reminiscing about their pass and planning for the future. Of course, the tension and awkwardness of not being in each other presence was lingering in the air, but they all ignored it and tried to rebuild their broken bridges.

That first step soon lead them to making monthly arrangement to meet. Monthly soon turned into weekly and before long, weekly turned into every time they were available to crash at each other house. After a few sleepovers at each other house, they also found their wardrobe storing at a small amount of clothes of each other, just like years ago.

By the middle of their second year of high school, they had reacquaintance themselves with one another, getting to know what had change since their last normal hangout. Subconsciously or not, they both stayed away from mentioning anything relating to their middle school volleyball. They also steered clear of Oikawa, knowing that Kageyama and their senior setter had a bad history with each other. Another topic they did not touch upon, despite Kunimi and Kindaichi's subtle attempts to extract any bit of information from Kageyama, was about his pass before they met him.

Their little ghost vision of a cheerful younger Kageyama was confirmed to be true when they saw some pictures on his computer, a chance they took when Kageyama had to go to the bathroom. In his picture library, all pictures of his younger self was smiling brightly like the sun. It was so bright they could practically feel his aura through the pictures. However, a little fact they couldn't help noticed was that all the pictures contained only him. There was never any other people, not even a glimpse. That night, they let their discovery go.

A few weeks later, the topic was finally brought up in the middle of a card game. That time, they were sleeping over at Kindaichi house, and since it was a Friday, they were also spending the weekend.

"Hey Kageyame, did something happened to you before you entered middle school?" Kageyama froze, hand stopping mid-air from picking up another card. Slowly, ever so slowly, he glanced at Kunimi.

"What do you mean?" Despite his best effort to conceal his fear, they could both detect it within a heartbeat. A split second later, their card game was forgotten on the ground as they sat Kageyama down on their futons.

"Can you… can you tell us?" Kindaichi requested softly.

"Wh-Why do you want to know?" It was unnerving to see their former King shivering in fear.

"We don't want to hurt you but after seeing some of your pictures from years ago, we want to know what happened that hurt you so badly. We want to understand you better, and help you through the aftermath that you're currently in. Don't lie, I can see you're still affected by it." Kunimi voice was soft as he tried to coax the story out of Kageyama, it was like he was talking to a toddler. "Please, tell us, your friends."

Friends. Kageyame realise he haven't heard that word from his two first friends since years ago. Tears pricked at his eyes before sliding his face. Through blurry vision, he could see the other two panicking, obviously not expecting this reaction. He took a few shaky breaths, gasping for air before he slowly spill his story.

"A few months before first day of middle start, my parents went missing." Now it was the two childhood friends turn to freeze. "With nowhere to go, my uncle took me in. But it wasn't out of pity or good grace, he just wanted the money my parent left behind. Back then I was a cry-baby and he didn't like that every much. He forced me to not show my emotion and if I don't, he wou-would," Kageyama's voice cracked, his throat closed as the vivid memories flashed through his mind. Patiently, the other two just rubbed his back and waited for him to continue. "He would punished me in many ways."

"Can you name a few?" Kindaichi was extra cautious in speaking slowly and gently to see Kageyama reaction. They saw him tense, shoulder hunch like they was protecting his neck.

"Are you, are you going to judge me?" Kageyame timidly whispered. It was so unlike what they normally see from him that it surprised them.

"Of course not!" Kindaichi and Kunimi replied in unison, hands clasped tightly around Kageyama hands. With much effort, Kageyama shallowed the knot in his throat.

"Normally, he would starve me..Other times he locked me in a dark room until I stopped crying."

"Did he ever hit you?" There was a long pause before Kageyama answered Kunimi's question.

"Yes."

Rage coursed through Kunimi and Kindaichi bodies, blinding them for a moment before they could see the shivering body of Kageyama. They were also shaking, they realised. The stayed still for a while, trying to contain their anger so they won't lash out and scare their friend.

"A few weeks ago, my parents was found dead in Hokkaido. The cause was unknown," Kageyama revealed, effectively snapping the other two out of their rage. "If you're wondering about what happened in volleyball, it wasn't influenced by any of that. That was just me not being aware of how I treat people, so don't excuse my actions for my pass."

"We won't," Kindaichi replied in a heartbeat. He didn't know if this is the right thing to do, but it was what his instinct tell him. They noticed that Kageyama was calmer, like this conversation went better than he expected. "But you know we've forgiven you for that, yeah?" The other boy only nod in reply.

"What happened to your uncle?" Kunimi dare to push a little further.

"The police found out and he was taken away. A friend of my parent agreed to take me in but had said that he can't live with me or care for me like a normal parent, he's only financially supporting me. I agreed so here I am."

Then, something that immediately flew to the top of their "Kageyama's surprising actions/facts" happened. Out of sheer wills and wants, he threw himself at them, pulling them into a hug. It was the first time Kageyama actually initiate any physical contact between them, or anyone for that matter, he normally keep to himself. Wet droplets fell on their shoulder and they wrapped their arm around him and wait for him to finish.

"Thank y-yu-you," he hiccupped over and over again. He had also mentions reasons but that was the main words he said during that 10 minutes.

Later that night as they laid on their futon with Kageyama to their right, they couldn't help to think how things smooth out so quickly. Never had they expected for the three of them to be friends, best friends, again within a year. What more, they did not expect for Kageyama to actually tell them that much. They were expecting him to give a short answer that will satisfied them, not actually willingly reveal some information that they didn't question but want to know. It was scary how Kageyama place so much trust in them after everything that happened, between his pass, them and their current arrangement. But as they stared at the ceiling, they was glad that Kageyama took the first step to rebuilding their friendship.

"Hey Kindaichi, let's make Kageyama happy as often as possible." Kunimi whispered to the turnip head next to him, "I have a feeling there's more to the story but I want to be here for him."

"Yeah. And even though he said not to blame his King actions on his past, I can't help but blame his uncle. That sick bastard."

"I agree. Let's not bring the King subject up, never again. After all, he admitted his mistakes and is trying to make up for it."

"I'll never agree with you more."

To the side, Kageyama was feeling as light as a bird. His spontaneous decision to reveal his pass had made him feel like a weight was off his heart. His crying had calm his ever longing for release, his emotions jar was no longer threatening to break. As he lay and listened to their whispers, he couldn't help the tears building in his eyes. Damn it, he was turning back into the cry-baby he was from years ago.

But that may be for the best.


End file.
